


The Claws That Close

by snowflight



Category: Purple Hyacinth - Ephemerys & Sophism (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Episode 43 But... Somehow Possibly Worse??, Gen, Heavy Angst, Kieran Please Get Help, Lauki Week 2020, Lauki Week 2020 Day 1: Soulmates, No Fluff, Self-Hatred, Soulmates Share Pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:55:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26976205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowflight/pseuds/snowflight
Summary: Episode  43, but they share each other's pain.
Relationships: Lauren Sinclair & Kieran White, Lauren Sinclair/Kieran White
Comments: 6
Kudos: 40





	The Claws That Close

**Author's Note:**

> **PLEASE READ:** This was a scene I had in mind for a Lauki soulmate au fic, where soulmates share each other's pain. The actual fic ended up not happening, but I was looking forward to writing this scene in particular, so I decided to just finally get it out for Lauki Week Day 1, since the prompt was soulmates! 
> 
> So yeah, the setup is that soulmates share pain, please keep that in mind! Hope you enjoy :'))

He feels her approaching long before sharp steps and ragged breaths pierce the silence of his cave. He feels her through the sting of tree branches whipping against his face and arms and the cold ache of rain seeping into his body.

He doesn’t know if he imagines the bitter twinge deep inside his chest when she finally appears in front of him in a whirl of red fury and golden hatred. 

“Well, well, officer.” Each word is a blade lodged in his throat, but that doesn’t stop him from ripping them out and ignoring the gaping wounds they leave and swallowing back the blood they summon. Part of him wonders if she can feel this, too. “What a delightful surprise.”

**~.~.~.~.~**

“You’re nothing but a _monster.”_

The word echoes like the merciless, never-ending chorus of a twisted song, and he can’t help but release the broken shell of a laugh that claws its way into his chest. 

If this song refuses to end, then he might as well sing along.

“You thought I was human? What a monumentally stupid mistake.”

Words leave his mouth before he needs to think, and yet it’s still too easy for him to follow the script that they write before him. He’s simply an actor playing a part that he’s grown all too familiar with.

**~.~.~.~.~**

“I could strangle you with my bare hands and not shed a single tear.”

For something that bore such lethal words, her throat feels so, _so_ fragile in his hands.

And then at the same time, something closes around his own neck. Agony bursts from his throat—

—and he welcomes it. This is all he’s known and all he will ever know.

But even then, _it’s not enough._

He deserves so much worse than this. It’s— 

“Why do you seem so surprised?”

His words leave his mouth in noises that sound like snarls.

— _not enough not enough—_

Then, as if rising to the challenge, the claws around his throat close into an even more ruthless grip, summoning the last of its cruel strength to crush the final bits of life inside him.

Darkness eats at the edges of his vision and feeling begins leaving his body. 

He wonders if he’s going to die.

“Like you said, I _am_ a monster—”

Then the darkness grows, pulsing inwards, threatening to consume all that’s left of the world, and delight rushes through him, because maybe humanity will finally be rid of his wretched existence once and for all— 

**_“—and I have always—”_ **

The rest doesn’t come out, because then he’s collapsed on the ground, taking in broken breaths and bringing a shaking hand to his throat.

She falls the same time he does, one of her hands flying up to her own throat. And as he feels pain pulse from the spot that her fingers hover over, everything rushes back to him— 

The feeling of her throat in his grip.

The sound of her weakening gasps.

The hatred on her face that turned into panic and then sheer _terror._

When he finally dares to glance at her, he notices how she’s staring at him. Then he realizes that she is so, so, so terrifyingly still, and for a second, he wonders if the being he sees before him is even alive—

Maybe she isn’t. Maybe this isn’t a human staring at him. Maybe he’s in Hell and maybe this is his punishment, maybe he's been condemned to face what he’s done for all of eternity, because if the way she looked at him before was torture, then now he’s crumbling in fire and trapped in brimstone under this gaze.

When she rises and leaves this purgatory without a word, it’s both bliss and agony. Nevertheless, he can still feel her departure long after the echoes of her footsteps fade.

But it’s not through the cold pang of the rain this time, or through the sting of branches hitting skin.

It's through the throb on her throat, a horrible ache that he can feel pulsing through himself with too much clarity.

It's through the memory of closing his wretched claws around a soul that he never should've touched and using them to tear what they had into nothing but pieces of pain and shreds of terror.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> You can probably already get why this was the one scene I was looking forward to writing, because the angst potential of episode 43 combined with shared pain soulmate au was just sooOOOOO HIGH
> 
> ooo also, if you're interested, some details about my actual (dropped) ph soulmate fic:  
> so the plan was for them to both realize they were each other's soulmates early on when they make the deal (bc they literally cut their palms LOL). and of course, both of them are like in biigggg denial the entire time and they actually wouldn't admit it to each other. But in moments, they'd be REALLY close to doing it, like:  
> In the episode 28 bandage-changing scene, Lauren would see all his scars and then recognize every single one of them, because she went through the same pain the entire time. And this fact, plus just seeing their shared pain bond through his scars as something so "tangible" in front of her, would make her almost admit everything :')) And remember that blurred out "Thank you" from that scene (end of ep 27), and Kieran turning around like "what"? INSTEAD, that would've been Lauren nearly admitting that they're soulmates but then stopping herself  
> Okay and then, of course, in ep 37, when Kieran stitches up Lauren, he feels the pain as he stitches her up. And like Lauren, it's the fact that he's really seeing and experiencing their shared pain bond right in front of him so tangibly that he almost admits everything to her. BUT THEN he thinks about what he's going to be doing tomorrow (ahem PRISON TOWER sdfsdfsd) and he stops himself, because like. he knows that everything is inevitably going to come crashing down anyways :'))  
> And then... episode 43: _this_ happens, and when they both fall to the ground and grab their throats, the truth is too clear for both of them to deny. And _this_ is when Kieran would finally admit they're soulmates, probably with a very very very dark and bitter laugh.  
> And ummm that was about it, and I realized "oh man I have no idea where to go from here" and then I started working on other projects so OOPS. goodbye soulmate au.
> 
> But anyways, I'm glad that I could still get down this particular scene, even though it's really short and doesn't have any story building up to it. I was trying to finish this for Day 1 of Lauki Week (prompt was soulmates), but I actually couldn't come up with a title until now LMAO  
> Overall, I'm still pretty happy with how this turned out though, and I hope you enjoyed! Kudos and comments would mean a lot, and once again, thanks for reading!


End file.
